Masahiro Tanaka, pitching in a Thursday exhibition against the San Francisco Giants, is the ace of Japan's World Baseball Classic team. / Marcio Jose Sanchez AP

by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

by Bob Nightengale, USA TODAY Sports

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Japan is still recovering from its devastating earthquake and tsunami two years ago, and the economy is fraught with anxiety.

For now, the Japanese have a diversion.

They have their national baseball team.

The World Baseball Classic may be on par with "I Love Lucy'' re-runs in the United States, but for Japan, it means everything.

"We are so down, and we have lost much pride,'' Hirozaku Higuchi of the Chunichi Shimbun newspaper says, "but this gives us hope. Everybody's business is singing the blues, but our baseball team gives us hope.

"We want to be No. 1.''

Japan doesn't have a single major-league player on its team, with Japanese stars Ichiro Suzuki and Yu Darvish getting Americanized and opting to stay with their own major league teams, but still are headed to the semifinals of the WBC to defend their title.

And an entire country is mesmerized, watching the WBC at record numbers in Japan, drawing a 44 share for their victory over the Netherlands, according to Jimmy Goto of the Tokyo Broadcasting system.

The San Francisco Giants gawked in amazement Thursday before their spring-training game, watching nearly 150 Japanese reporters surround the field at Scottsdale Stadium, covering Japan's exhibition game against the Giants. Of course, there were 50,000 fans just watching Team Japan during a 2009 workout, said Gaku Tashiro of Sankein Sports.

"Japanese people are very crazy for international baseball,'' Tashiro says. "There's no more baseball in the Olympics, so the Japanese people say that whoever wins this tournament is the champion of all of baseball.''

Japan is the two-time defending champions in this event, and while it may be the underdog this time with Team USA and the Dominican Republic both likely around, this year's title run may mean more than any other.

"We're going for our third straight right now,'' Japan manager Koji Yamamoto said, "and there's a lot of pressure on our back. Our goal was to come here to the United States. Once we get here anything can happen. That's how I look at it.

"You see these guys growing with more confidence and that makes me feel mentally strong. Although it's not easy, this is reality. So I think it's motivating for these kids right now, because a lot of these guys have no experience here, but they have a lot of interest.''

Certainly, they drew keen interest from major-league baseball scouts too, with more than 30 in attendance Thursday. The biggest attraction was Japan ace Masahiro Tanaka, who's expected to leave for the major leagues this winter or in 2014. The most anticipated matchup occurred in the first inning when Tanaka faced National League MVP Buster Posey in the first inning. He threw out his arsenal against Posey, striking him out on a fastball down the middle of the plate.

"Those guys can play over there, I must have played with or against 90% of that team,'' said Marc Kroon, who pitched six years in Japan, before retiring last season from the Giants. "They love their baseball, and this tournament is big for them, a lot bigger than it is in this country. It might be different if USA had all their stud players, and had all of their top dogs playing, but they don't do that.

"In Japan, this is their All-Star team, and the entire country gets behind them.''

Yet, the idea of a true World Series, the Japanese say, isn't particularly appealing. When Yamamoto was asked about the concept, he simply said, "I have no room in my mind to be thinking about stuff like that."

"The U.S. champion and the Japanese champion playing for the World Series,'' Higuchi said, "wouldn't be as big as the WBC. We care more about just having a national team, not a one Japanese team. That's why we like the Olympics so much.

"People in Japan are so excited about this team. We have no stars like Ichiro or Darvish, but this team gives us so much pride.''

So forget a true World Series, all Japan wants is a crack at Team USA.

"We beat Cuba in 2006 for the WBC championship, and Korea in 2009,'' Higuchi said, "so the best-case scenario is to beat Team USA for the championship.